May 14, 2012

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life

Last February 2010, Spike Jonze had finished producing a new live-action/animated adaptation of Maurice Sendak‘s Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life. The film, a collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada and Warner Home Video, was included on the Blu-Ray release of Where The Wild Things Are. The 23 and a half minute short film was created by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the Oscar-nominated team behind the short Madame Tutli-Putli, and features the voices of Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker and Spike Jonze.

Through the use of stop-motion, model sets, trick photography, amazing puppetry, lots of After Effects compositing and actors dressed in elaborate costumes Sendak’s story springs to life in what can called a long trippy dream sequence. It reminded me of Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal, and has the same feeling as we follow Jennie’s surreal, suspenseful and unexpectedly moving journey to gain new experiences and realize her dream of becoming the star in the World Mother Goose Theatre.